As a new means of transportation other than a bus or a railroad, a track-based transportation system has been known in which a vehicle travels on a track by traveling wheels configured of rubber tires, and guide wheels provided on both side portions of the vehicle are guided by guide rails provided on both side portions of the track. In general, the track-based transportation system is referred to as a new transportation system or an Automated People Mover (APM).
In the above-described track-based transportation system, two mainline tracks are provided in parallel to simultaneously convey a vehicle in two different directions, and thus a double track is realized, and a pick-up and delivery travel path capable of picking up and delivering the vehicle between two mainline tracks in some sections of the mainline tracks is provided.
In the pick-up and delivery travel path, branch wheels provided below guide wheels in both side portions of the vehicle are guided by guide rails provided on both side portions of the pick-up and delivery travel path, and thus the vehicle is picked up and delivered between two mainline tracks. At this time, in the pick-up and delivery guide path, it is necessary to introduce the vehicle so as to be in a state in which one guide wheel of the vehicle is guided to the guide rail of one side portion from a state in which the other guide wheel of the vehicle is guided to the guide rail of the other side portion. That is, in order to maintain a state in which the vehicle is always guided by guide rails during traveling of the vehicle on the pick-up and delivery travel path, in some sections of the pick-up and delivery travel path, it is necessary to overlap the guide rail of the one side portion and the guide rail of the other side portion in a direction along the pick-up and delivery guide path. Accordingly, in a place in which the pick-up and delivery travel path is installed, in addition to the width of two mainline tracks, the width of the pick-up and delivery guide path between the mainline tracks are needed, and thus, as a whole, the width in which three vehicles can run in parallel are needed.
Therefore, for example, in PLT 1, a branch device is disclosed in which a branch path connecting two tracks provided in parallel is formed. The branch device includes a removal region in which a guide rail of the track is removed. In the removal region, a first movable rail which is rotatably connected to a base end of an outer guide rail of one track and a fourth movable rail which is rotatably connected to a base end of an inner guide rail of the other track are rotated by a control device and connected to each other. Moreover, a second movable rail which is rotatably connected to a base end of an inner guide rail of one track and a third movable rail which is rotatably connected to a base end of an outer guide rail of the other track are rotated by a control device and connected to each other. In this way, the branch path is formed, and thus the vehicle can travel from one track to the other track without a gap between two tracks being widened.